Thank you.
This amendment is straightforward - It amends the infamous Public Offices clause, to change which offices are mutually exclusive; That being, which offices no one person may hold at the same time. This has long been an issue of contention within the region and it is now that it has been decided, to amend this clause for such an alteration.
The offices in question are the Attorney General primarily and Justice, secondarily. If this amendment is enacted, the office of Attorney General will no longer be mutually exclusive with the offices of President, Vice President, Senator or Chairperson; With an extra sentence appended to the end of the original text of the clause retaining mutual exclusivity with the office of Justice of the Supreme Court.
Please note that the Constitution later, in Article 3, Section 2, Clause 14, states the following about the office of Attorney General:
The President shall wholly delegate their prosecutorial duty to an Attorney General who shall act as the Government's chief prosecutor. The Attorney General is the Minister of Justice and is subject to approval by the Senate. The Attorney General shall submit to the President a recommendation evaluating whether to sign or veto every motion which is submitted to them. Except for reasons criminal in nature, no Attorney General may be dismissed during a timely prosecution of the Executive branch or any member of the Executive branch.
As such, this amendment makes it constitutional for a single person to hold both the positions of Minister of Justice/Attorney General
and President, Vice President, Senator
or Chairperson, within the region. It will remain unconstitutional for a single person to hold both the positions of Minister of Justice/Attorney General
and Justice of the Supreme Court.
This follows a recent, relatively benign incident, in which the sitting Attorney General was mistakenly selected to be the Chairperson of the General Assembly. Following this event, this amendment was drafted, as it is the belief of many in the region that these two offices should not be exclusive. In addition, it is also posited that the offices of Attorney General and Senator should not be exclusive, either; We are a self-regulating body and are capable of removing problem individuals and thus, have the capacity to protect ourselves from the risks that come with consolidation of power.